In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Do you mean this horny creep
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest
And feeling numb
What do you expect of me
What is it you want?
Whatever you've planned for me
I'm not the one
A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied
An unbearable pain
A beating in my brain
That leaves the mark of Cain
Right here inside
What am I supposed to do?
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
Is there something you need from me?
Are you having your fun?
I never agreed to be
Your holy one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Set upon weary feet
Who looks in need of sleep
That doesn't come
This twisted, tortured mess
This bed of sinfulness
Who's longing for some rest
And feeling numb
What do you expect of me
What is it you want?
Whatever you've planned for me
I'm not the one
A vicious appetite
Visits me each night
And won't be satisfied
Won't be denied
An unbearable pain
A beating in my brain
That leaves the mark of Cain
Right here inside
What am I supposed to do?
When everything that I've done
Is leading me to conclude
I'm not the one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
Is there something you need from me?
Are you having your fun?
I never agreed to be
Your holy one
Whatever I've done
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Whatever I've done
Whatever, whatever
I've been staring down the barrel of a gun
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Standing On The Edge Of Summer
Thursday
Thursday
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
It was the pressure that Dave was going through at the time. He to fell into a deep depression He entered the hospital briefly in August 1995 after slashing his wrists in a suicide attempt. On 5/28/1996, he was arrested after being saved from death from an apparent overdose of cocaine in a Los Angeles hotel room.
What ever I've done "I've been Staring down the barrel of a gun" is a metaphor for saying it could of been the end of it all for him.
"Is there something you need from me? Are you having your fun?" Referring to the media and the rumors of how he did his suicide, sorta picking on him ..
"Barrel of a Gun" came after some difficult times for the band and its members. Musician Alan Wilder left the band in 1995, and lead singer David Gahan nearly died while in the throes of heroin addiction. Martin Gore had a string of seizures as well as battling alcoholism, and Andrew Fletcher was suffering from depression. In mid-1996, Gore tried to get Gahan and Fletcher interested in recording new Depeche Mode material by writing a few songs and seeing if anybody was interested in continuing after that. It worked, and the band were back together, except now a trio again for the first time since 1982's A Broken Frame.
"Barrel of a Gun" brings back the industrial music sound, and is one of the band's darkest songs. Gore wasn't sure if it was going to be a big hit, so he was reluctant to recommend this song as the first single, but when he eventually did, it turned out the rest of band, Daniel Miller, and producer Tim Simenon agreed. It reached number 4 in the UK chart in 1997, which at the time was their highest chart position jointly with "People Are People", released in 1984. Since then, "Precious" has also reached number 4 in the UK, in 2005.
I believe that the singer is in a relationship and is aware of his selfishness, lust, flawed humanity, etc. and is doesn\'t believe he\'s capable of meeting the needs of his partner. This makes sense because he\'s describing his worst qualities and yet immediately switches to ask why his partner is so fond of and desiring of him.\n\nHe\'s also somewhat aware that his partner is enjoying being with him, which is actually eating at him even more ("are you having your fun? I never agreed to be your holy one"). He is at a loss at this trapped feeling. Is he supposed to continue pretending to be the one for her while he feels utterly incapable just because she is enjoying it? Or does he cut things off and destroy her? It seems helpless and hopeless, leading to the expression, "whatever I\'ve done, I\'ve been staring down the barrel of a gun"..
One thing... Martin Gore writes all of Depeche Mode's lyrics.... so how can that be?
depressed mode
To me, this song is about someone who is under tremendous pressure to change their ways for someone else, and they are falling far short of the other person's lofty goals for them. Basically, the person is saying 'I can't be who you want me to be, no matter how much you try to force or pressure me to.'
What i love about Gore's lyrics are they're open to interpretation and can mean different things to different people. With Dave singing it's easy to come to the conclusion that its about his drug habit and how he knows he's dicing with death but as he didn't write it i've come the conclusion that maybe Martin was writing about groupies wanting him while he feels like a mess and feels guilty for wanting / enjoying the sex that is laid out on a plentiful plate for him but at also that these people all want something from him that he is unable / unwilling to give.
On the first reading of the lyrics, I immediately thought of the antihero in Charles Bukowski's Notes of a Dirty Old Man :P The story of the lyrics could almost be a part of the book :P
I had an epiphany last week, listening this song and its remixes for the millionth times, and always finding something lacking about the too much obvious interpretation that this is about Dave's situation at the time of recording: it's actually about Kurt Cobain's suicide, it makes perfect sense in that way, just think of the title itself! It's still indirectly about Dave, who stated how close he felt to Kurt Cobain's ordeal of dealing with success... BUT when the song says "I never agreed to be your holy one". it's true of Kurt, not Dave, who was perfectly happy at the time of Violator (he said that when he was singing 'World in my Eyes' on stage, it reflected exactly how he felt), until he got overwhelmed (because of drugs, naturally): whereas Kurt didn't enjoy success at all, Dave enjoyed it too much!
its always funny to me to see the way people interpretation songs.
first of all, why does everybody continue writing that "dave meant that and that..." dave wasn't the song writer but martin gore. and he told many times that he had alcohol problem as well, so the songs can be reffered to his addiction as well. barrel of a gun is about relationships have you never had a relationship with someone that was going so bad that you wanna shoot yourself insteed of hearing this person again? i think its about a relationship that made him feel bad with hisself cause he wasn't serious and she probably expected too much of him. he says several times "i'm not the one..." "i never agreed to be your holly one" he is having some kind of relationship with her but he doesn't love him and he feels bad deceiving her.